Just wondering how easy it is to remove the "classic" H18SX style wings from a Hobie Tiger. Are the horizontal mounts simply bolted to the crossbars or are they riveted in place? See the Craigslist ad for a picture. I haven't found any installation instructions online.

Based on the picture, it looks like they took four short pieces of square tubing and bolted them on top of the crossbars, most likely using the existing crossbar bolts (i.e., the crossbar bolts pass through the square tubing, through the crossbar, and bolt into the hull. The wings then mount to the square tubing. This is a custom job, not a Hobie system.

So removing the wings would be as simple as unbolting them from the square tubing (one bolt in each wing corner. However, then you'd be left with a piece of square tubing mounted at each crossbar corner. This would not be the most pleasant thing to sit on or slide into, and since the pieces of tubing extend past the end of the crossbar, I suspect you could get really hurt if you flew into the end of them from out on the wire, so you would definitely want to remove them if sailing without the wings. To remove the tubing pieces, you would more or less have to disassemble the whole boat (remove all 8 crossbar bolts). In short, you would have to disassemble the whole boat to safely sail without wings.

Actually, the wings are one of three official Hobie wing offerings for the Tiger. I found an official diagram showing the wing components, but it excluded how those square pieces get mounted to the crossbars. Like you, I expect that the crossbar bolts are being used to mount them.

Ok, yep, you're right. The only wings I remembered for the Tiger were the ones that plugged into the ends of the crossbars, but now I see there was a third system.

Anyway, based on the pic, I think you would definitely want to remove the brackets when not using the wings (or possibly modify the brackets so they are flush with the end of the crossbar- relocate the mounting holes). I would be surprized if these brackets mount in any way other than by using the crossbar bolts, so total disassembly is likely required to remove them. I'm sure the seller could confirm that though.